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About Headstart

Who We Are

Headstart uses Machine Learning to help employers identify the best-suited candidates in the shortest amount of time.

Used by some of the world's leading companies, Headstart is on a mission to make recruitment more efficient, engaging and inclusive, reducing the time spent reviewing candidates by up to 70%, and helping companies hire people that will adhere to their values, and thrive in their culture.

The Headstart process takes a job-seeker just 15 minutes, through a highly engaging experience, and is designed to help companies move away from experience/qualification driven screening, towards a far more inclusive, effective process that considers personality, behaviours, strengths and motivations as well.

With Headstart, companies can save time and money by accurately finding candidates who meet their exact job requirements at an early stage, and job-seekers can connect directly with businesses through a simple, re-usable application form.

Our Vision

We aim to revolutionise the recruitment industry, creating equal opportunities regardless of social background, whilst ensuring that every job-seeker discovers the job that they are most suited to.

By ensuring that both job-seekers and companies are well-informed, we seek to create a highly transparent process, and initiate a relevant and productive dialogue that makes candidates feel valued, and maximises the efficiency of every employer.

Hear it from our co-founders!

Our Team

Nicholas Shekerdemian

Co-founder (CEO)

Undergraduate at Oxford University, in Chinese Studies. Thiel Fellow. Previously founded an online education company in China. Headstart’s fundraising-fiend and visionary.

Jeremy Hindle

Co-founder (CTO)

Gareth Jones

COO

Formerly Chief Innovation Officer and Head of Labs at The Chemistry Group, a leading global psychometric assessment provider. Gareth is a business leader with in depth experience and passion for People and Technology.

Tom Price-Daniel

Head of Sales

Formerly the Commercial Director at Alderbrooke, where he led the expansion of CultureScope across EMEA, APAC and the US. Tom fronts Headstart's global expansion. An avid sports fan and in his rugby playing youth was known as 'Tommy the Tank'!

Alison Cheung

Product Manager

Graduate from UCL, in Economics and Geography. Previously Marketing Brand Lead at Google and Growth Lead at a health-tech startup in San Francisco. Keeps Headstart running super smoothly and double breakfast evangelist.

Saqib Saddiq

Psychometrician

Former SHL and IBM Kenexa Consultant, Saqib brings years of experience in designing Psychometric Tests to the team. Headstart's in-house Psychologist.

Alessandro Rosa

Senior Developer

Previously a Web Designer, now a Full-Stack Developer with a huge hunger for knowledge. Headstart's official downhill rider.

Christos Dimitroulas

Senior Developer

Previously a nuclear power station operator at EDF energy, Christos is now a Full-Stack Developer with a problem-solving mindset at Headstart.

Jason Cheung

Developer

Undergraduate at University of Plymouth, in Business Management. To qualify for a chance to be Jason's friend, you need to first get this question correct: 'Crunchy or Smooth?'

Bina Nanavati

Customer Success Manager

Litigation lawyer turned entrepreneur. Founder of e-commerce business and formerly project manager at a high growth coworking company. Her natural flair for fun and organization ensures that our customers are always happy.

Justin Dart

US Business Lead

CU Boulder Grad, in Marketing & International Business. Previously Head of Business Development at ZenContent (acquired by a NASDAQ traded company in 2016). Chief flag-waver for Headstart’s US expansion.

Brice Penaud

Sales Manager

Formerly the Head of Growth of Phrasee, Brice now helps Headstart grow its relationships with enterprise businesses. Holds a passion for all things AI. Mostly a vegetarian, often made fun of for it, and unpredictably retaliates.

Derek Walker

Business Development (Enterprises)

Former Director of Careers at Said Business School, Oxford. Previously Campus Recruitment Director at a series of leading Investment Banks. Headstart's cranberry juice and cycling enthusiast.

Our Advisors

John Maxted

Recruitment Advisor

Founder of Leading Recruitment Company 'Digby Morgan'. John advises us on how to successfully expand and manage a high growth recruitment business.

Aritha Wickramasinghe

Diversity & Inclusion Advisor

Lawyer at K&L Gates, formerly at Clifford Chance. Financial Times LGBT Future Leader of 2015. Aritha is perfectly placed to help us improve diversity in the workplace.

Katie George

Recruitment Advisor

Amazon EMEA Tech Campus Lead, formerly Credit Suisse, AIG, Rothschild and Barclays. Katie works closely with us on developing Headstart's functionality and advising us from a Recruiter’s perspective.

Hermione Way

Marketing and Brand Strategy Advisor

CEO and Founder of WayMedia. Hermoine is an experienced marketer in the tech industry. Former EMEA Head of Communications at Tinder and CMO and Co-founder at Vibease.

Fraser Butters

PR Advisor

Founder of Pervasive PR. Fraser is an accomplished PR and communications expert, who is very actively involved in London's HR community in his role on the committee of the London HR Connection.

Our Investors

Tim Jones

Former CEO of Coller Capital, now Private Investor.

Thomas Bucaille

Senior Vice President HR, EMEA at Ralph Lauren.

Lee Cory

Partner at Jago Capital.

Graham Clempson

Over 30 years of experience in the Private Equity and Credit Markets, currently at Quartic Capital.

Christopher Hall

Former Senior Partner at Latham and Watkins.

Gary Laurence

Built and sold several recruitment businesses, most recently Huntress, which he sold to Nomura Private Equity.

Alex Warren

Partner at Ferox Capital.

L Marks

L Marks was founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Stuart Marks. L Marks aims to build bridges between corporates seeking to innovate and young companies with disruptive tech.

Y Combinator

Y Combinator is an American seed accelerator, started in March 2005. In 2017 Forbes ranked YC one of two 'Platinum Plus Tier U.S. Accelerators'. Fast Company has called YC 'the world's most powerful start-up incubator'.

Our Partners

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